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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. I 

Chap. ..±^.Uh.^\ 
She/f r5-_'^.5 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 1 







EXPENSES AT HARVARD. 



AN ADDRESS 



BY 



PROFESSOR GEORGE HERBERT PALMER 



oeefore i^arbarn (Kra&uatejs^ 



COMMEN^CEMEl^T DAY, 1887. 



OAMBRIDGE: 
JOHN WILSON AND SON. 

188T. 



EXPENSES AT HAEVARD. 



AN ADDRESS 

BY 

PROFESSOR GEORGE HERBERT PALMER 
OOMMENOEMBJSTT DAY, 1887. 

r 




CAMBRIDGE: 

JOHN WILSON AND SON. 

SSnilinsfts ^ccs!!. 

1887. 



U) 



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PREFATORY NOTE. 



^ I ^HE undersigned, believing that those graduates 
who were absent from Commencement dinner 
will be interested to learn the important facts pre- 
sented at that time by Professor Palmer, have obtained 
from him a corrected copy of his speech, and now 
distribute it, in the hope that its figures, if widely 
known, may do something to ease the way of poor 
boys ambitious of a Harvard training, and that they 
may also rectify some features in that popular portrait 
of a Harvard student which has about the same rela- 
tion to the living reality as the stage Yankee has to 
the average citizen of Boston. 

HENRY LEE. 
CHARLES P. BOWDITCH. 
JOSEPH B. WARNER. 
ARCHIBALD M. HOWE. 

Boston, July, 1887. 



Persons wishing other copies of the pamphlet can obtain them, 
without charge, by addi-essing 

ARCHIBALD M. HOWE, 

25 Congress Street, 
Room 3. Boston. 



COLLEGE ii:XPENSES AT HARVAED/ 



THE subject of college expenses has been much debated 
lately. At our Commencement dinner, a year ago, 
attention was called to it. Our chairman on that occasion 
justly insisted that the ideal of the University should be plain 
living and high thinking. And certainly there is apt to be 
something vulgar, as well as vicious, in the man of books who 
turns away from winning intellectual wealth and indulges in 
tawdry extravagance. Yet every friend of Harvard is obliged 
to acknowledge with shame that the loose spender has a 
lodging in our yard. No clear-sighted observer can draw 
near and not perceive that in all his native hideousness the 
man of the club and the dog-cart is among us. 

I do not think this strange. In fact, I regard it as inevi- 
table. It is necessarily connected with our growth. The old 
College we might compare, for moral and intellectual range, 
with a country village ; our present University is a great city, 
and we must accept the many-sided life, the temptations as 
well as the opportunities, of the great city. Probably no- 
where on this planet can a thousand young men be found, 
between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four, who will not 
show examples of the heedless, the temptable, and the de- 
praved. Let us not, then, shrink from acknowledging the 
ugly fact; extravagance is here, — shameless, coarse extrav- 
agance. I hope nothing I say may diminish our sense of its 

1 Delivered in Memorial Hall, Cambridge, June 29, 1887. 



6 COLLEGE EXPENSES AT HARVARD. 

indecency. But how widespread is it? We must not lose 
sight of that important question. How largely does it infect 
the College ? Are many students large spenders ? Must a 
man of moderate means on coming here be put to shame ? 
Will he find himself a disparaged person, out of accord with 
the spirit of the place, and unable to obtain its characteristic 
advantages? These are the weighty questions. Only after 
we have answered them can we determine the moral sound- 
ness of the University. Wherever we go on earth we shall 
find the insolently rich and wasteful. They, like the poor, 
are always with us ; their qualities are cheap. But what 
we want to know is whether, side by side with them, we have 
a company of sober men, who care for higher things and who 
spend no more than the higher things require. Facts of pro- 
portion and degree form the firm basis of general judgments, 
and yet I am aware that these are the hardest facts to obtain. 
Hitherto nobody has known any such facts in regard to the 
expenses of Harvard. Assertions about the style of living 
here have only expressed the personal opinion of the assertor, 
or at best have been generalizations from a few chance cases. 
No systematic evidence on the subject has existed. It is 
time it did exist, and I have made an attempt to obtain it. 
To each member of the graduating class I sent a circular, a 
month ago, asking if he would be willing to tell me in confi- 
dence what his college course had cost. I desired him to 
include in his report all expenses whatever. He was to state 
not merely his tuition, board, and lodging, but also his furni- 
ture, books, clothing, travel, subscriptions, and amusements ; 
in fact, every dollar he had spent during the four years of his 
study, except his charges for Class Day and the summer vaca- 
tions; these times varying so widely, it seemed to me, in 
their cost to different men that they could not instructively 
enter into an average. 

The reply has been very large indeed. To my surprise, 
out of a class of two hundred and thirty-five men actually in 
residence, two hundred and nineteen, or ninety-three per cent, 



COLLEGE EXPENSES AT HARVARD. 7 

have sent reports. Am I wrong in supposing that this very 
general "readiness to tell" is itself a sign of upright con- 
duct ? But I would not exaggerate the worth of the returns. 
They cannot be trusted to a figure. It has not been possible 
to obtain itemized statements. College boys, like other peo- 
ple, do not always keep accounts. But I requested my cor- 
respondents, in cases of uncertainty, always to name the 
larger figure ; and though those who have lived freely prob- 
ably have less knowledge about what they have spent than 
have their economical classmates, I think we may accept 
their reports in the rough. We can be reasonably sure 
whether they have exceeded or fallen below a certain me- 
dium line, and for purposes more precise I shall not attempt 
to use them. Anything like minute accuracy I wish ex- 
pressly to repudiate. The evidence I offer only claims to 
be the best that exists at present ; and I must say that the 
astonishing frankness and fulness of the reports give me 
strong personal assurance of the good faith of the writers. 
In these letters I have seen a vivid picture of the struggles, 
the hopes, the errors, and the repentings of the manly young 
lives that surround me. 

What, then, are the results ? Out of the two hundred and 
nineteen men who have replied, fifty-six, or about one quarter 
of the class, have spent between $450 and $650 in each of the 
four years of residence; fifty-four, or again about a quarter, 
have spent between $650 and $975; but sixty-one, hardly 
more than a quarter, have spent a larger sum than $1,200. 
The smallest amount in any one year was $400 ; the largest, 
$4,000.1 

1 Perhaps I had better mention the adjustments by which these results have 
been reached. "When a man has been in college during only the closing years of 
the course, I assume that he would have lived at the same rate had he been here 
throughout it. I have added |150 for persons who board at home, and another 
hundred for tliose who lodge there. Though I asked to have the expenses of 
Class Day and the summer vacations omitted, in some instances I have reason to 
suspect that they are included ; but of course I have been obliged to let the error 
remain, and I have never deducted the money which students often say they 



8 COLLEGE EXPENSES AT HARVARD. 

I ask you to consider these figures. They are not start- 
ling, but they seem to me to indicate that a soberly sensible 
average of expense prevails at Harvard. They suggest that 
students are, after all, merely young men temporarily re- 
moved from homes, and that they are practising here, with^ 
out violent change, the habits which the home has formed. 
Those who have been accustomed to large expenditure, spend 
freely here ; those of quiet and considerate habits do not 
lightly abandon them. I doubt if during the last twenty-five 
years luxury has increased in the colleges as rapidly as it 
has in the outside world. 

There is no reason, either, to suppose that the addition of 
the sixteen men who have not replied would appreciably affect 
my results. The standing of these men on the last annual 
rank-list was sixty-eight per cent. They seem to me average 
persons. Their silence I attribute to mistakes of the mail, to 
business, to neglect, or to the very natural disinclination to dis- 
close their private affairs. To refuse to answer my intrusive 
questions, or even to acknowledge that college days were costly, 
is not in itself evidence of wantonness. Small spenders are 
usually high scholars ; but this is by no means always the 
case. In the most economical group I found seven who did 
not reach a rank of seventy per cent last year ; whereas out 
of the seven largest spenders of the class three passed seventy- 
five per cent. It would be rash to conclude that large sums 
cannot be honorably employed. 

But it may seem that the smallest of the sums named is 
large for a poor man. It may be believed that even after re- 
straint and wisdom are used. Harvard remains the college of 
the rich. Ther'e is much in our circumstances to make it so. 
An excellent education is unquestionably a costly thing, and 



expect to recover at graduation by the sale of furniture and other goods. There 
is a noticeahle tendency to larger outlay as the years advance. Some students 
attribute this to the greater cost of the studies of the later years, to the more 
expensive books and the laboratory charges ; others, to societies and subscrip- 
tions ; others, to enlarged acquaintance with opportunities for spending. 



COLLEGE EXPENSES AT HARVARD. 9 

to live wliere many men wish to live calls for a good deal of 
money. We have, it is true, this splendid hall, which lessens 
our expense for food and encompasses us with ennobling influ- 
ences; but it costs 1150 a year to board here. Our tuition 
bill each year is $150. The University owns 450 rooms; but 
not a third of them rent for less than $150 a year, the average 
rent being $146. These large charges for tuition and room- 
rent are made necessary by the smallness of the general fund 
which pays the running expenses of the college. Very few 
of the professorships are endowed, and so the tuition-fee and 
room-rent must mainly carry the expenses of teaching. 

Still, there is another side to the story. Thus far I have 
figured out the expenses, and have said nothing about the 
means of meeting them. Perhaps to get the advantages of 
Harvard a student may need to spend largely ; but a certain 
circumstance enables him to do so, — I mean the matchless 
benevolence of those who have preceded us here. The great 
sums intrusted to us for distribution in prizes, loan-funds, and 
scholarships make it possible for our students to offset the 
cost of their education to such a degree that the net output of 
a poor boy here is probably less than in most New England 
colleges. At any rate, I have asked a large number of poor 
students why they came to expensive Harvard, and again and 
again I have received the reply : " I could not afford to go 
elsewhere." 

The magnitude of this beneficiary aid I doubt if people 
generally understand, and I have accordingly taken pains to 
ascertain what was the amount given away this year. I find 
that to undergraduates alone it was $36,000 ; to members of 
the graduate department, $11,000 ; and to the professional 
schools, $6,000 : making in a single year a total of assistance 
to students of the University of more than $53,000. Next 
year this enormous sum will be increased $13,000 by the mu- 
nificent bequest of Mr. Price Greenleaf. Fully to estimate the 
favorable position of the poor man at Harvard, we should take 
into account also the great opportunities for earning money 



10 COLLEGE EXPENSES AT HARVARD. 

through private tuition, through innumerable avenues of trade, 
and through writing for the public press. A large number of 
my correspondents tell of money earned outside their scholar- 
ships.^ 

These immense aids provided for our students maintain a 
balance of conditions here, and enable even the poorest to ob- 
tain a Harvard education. And what an education it is ; how 
broad and deep and individually stimulating, — the most truly 
American education which the continent affords ! But I have 
no need to eulogize it. It has already entered into the very 
structure of you who listen. Let me rather close with two 
pieces of advice. 

The first shall be to parents. Give your son a competent 
allowance when you send him to Harvard, and oblige him to 
stick to it. To learn calculation will contribute as much to his 
equipment for life as any elective study he can pursue ; and 
calculation he will not learn unless, after a little experience, 
you tell him precisely what sum he is to receive. If in a hap- 
hazard way you pour |2,000 into his pocket, then in an equally 
haphazard way $2,000 will come out. Whatever extravagance 
exists at Harvard to-day is the fault of you foolish parents. 
The college, as a college, cannot stop extravagance. It can- 
not take away a thousand dollars from your son and tell him 
— what would be perfectly true — that he will be better off 
with the remaining thousand; that you must do yourselves. 
And if you ask, " What is a competent allowance ? " out of 
what my correspondents say I will frame you five answers. 
If your son is something of an artist in economy, he may live 
here on |600, or less; he will require to be an artist to accom- 
plish it. If he will live closely, carefully, yet with full regard 
to all that is required, he may do so, with nearly half his 
class, on not more than $800. If you wish him to live at ease 

1 For the sake of lucidity, I keep the expense account and the income account 
distinct. For example, a man reports that he has spent $700 a year, winning 
each year a scholarship of $200, and earning by tutoring |100, and $50 by some 
other means. The balance against him is only $350 a year ; but I have included 
him in the group of $700 spenders. 



COLLEGE EXPENSES AT HARVARD. 11 

and to obtain the many refinements which money will pur- 
chase, give him $1,000. Indeed, if I were a very rich man, 
and had a boy whose character I could trust, so that I 
could be sure that all he laid out would be laid out wisely, 
I might add |200 more, for the purchase of book^ and 
other appliances of delicate culture. But I should be 
sure that every dollar I gave him over $1,200 would be a 
dollar of danger. 

Let my second piece of advice be to all of you graduates. 
When you meet a poor boy, do not rashly urge him to come 
to Harvard. Estimate carefully his powers. If he is a good 
boy, — docile, worthy, commonplace, — advise him to go some- 
where else. Here he will find himself borne down by large 
expense and by the crowd who stand above him. But when- 
ever you encounter a poor boy of eager, aggressive mind, a 
youth of energy, one capable of feeling the enjoyment of strug- 
gling with a multitude and of making his merit known, say to 
him that Harvard College is expressly constituted for such as 
he. Here he will find the largest provision for his needs and 
the clearest field for his talents. Money is a power every- 
where. It is a power here ; but a power of far more restricted 
scope than in the world at large. In this magnificent hall 
rich and poor dine together daily. At the Union they debate 
together. At the clubs which foster special interests, — the 
Finance Club, the Philological Club, the Philosophical Club, 
the French Club, the Signet, and the 0. K., — considerations 
of money have no place. If the poor man is a man of muscle, 
the athletic organizations will welcome him ; if a man skilled 
in words, he will be made an editor of the college papers; and 
if he has the powers that fit him for such a place, the whole 
body of his classmates will elect him Orator, Ivy Orator, Odist, 
or Poet, without the slightest regard to whether his purse is 
full or empty. The poor man, it is true, will not be chosen 
for ornamental offices, for positions which imply an acquaint- 
ance with etiquette, and he may be cut off from intimacy with 
the frequenters of the ball-room and the opera ; but as he 



12 COLLEGE EXPENSES AT HARVARD. 

will probably have little time or taste for these things, his loss 
will not be large. In short, if he has anything in him, — has 
he scholarship, brains, wit, companionability, stout moral 
purpose, or quiet Christian character, — his qualities will 
find as prompt a recognition at Harvard as anywhere on 
earth. 



APPENDIX OF CORRESPONDENCE. 



NOTE. 



IF my Address is to be printed, some of the delightful 
letters, of which it is but a bald abstract, should be 
printed too. I cannot print them in full, partly through lack 
of space, but chiefly because I have promised to publish 
nothing which might identify the writers. I hope I have 
kept this promise by careful editing. I am sure I violate 
no confidence in revealing the frankness of my charming 
correspondents, their vigorous English, their gentlemanly 
simplicity, and their freedom from nonsense and whine ; for 
these are qualities characteristic of them all, and betray no- 
body. What I have chiefly tried to show in the brief selec- 
tion here given, is the variety of opinion and practice that 
prevails where tempers and habits differ. Listening to the 
open-hearted talk of these young men, we seem to be looking 
at an instantaneous photograph of our little college world, and 
so " to catch the manners living as they rise." 

G. H. P. 



I AM very glad to do what I can to correct the statements of 
the newspapers about the cost of living at Harvard ; the}' are far 
from the truth. I can give m}' expenses within ten dollars, I am 
sure. Freshman year almost exaetl}^ $400 ; Sophomore year, very 
nearl}^ $485 ; Junior j'ear, about $600 ; Senior j^ear, $750. Scholar- 
ships have alwa^'s paid my term-bills, and something more. 



14 COLLEGE EXPENSES AT HARVARD. 

M}" expenses as a Freshman were $435.32 ; as a Sophomore, 
$415.66. For the last two years I have not kept an accurate 
account ; but $435 will more than cover what I have spent since 
m}^ Sophomore year. These figures, however, do not Include fur- 
niture, for which I have spent $20 per year on the average ; 
neither do they include washing, which has been done at 
liome. 



I am very glad to comply with your request and to give you 
a statement of my college expenses. They have been, — Freshman 
year, $627 ; Sophomore, $572 ; Junior, $562 ; Senior, $720. I 
think it proper to add that during my college course I have re- 
ceived in scholarships $800, and have earned by tutoring and by 
prizes $373, making the actual cost of my course but $1,309. 

Many of the items in my expenses cover such outlays as would 
be necessary whether I were in college or not, such as board, 
clothing, and sundries. My actual total expenses may be reduced 
to a figure below my estimate ; but the reduction is an unknown 
quantity, and would be out of place in this statement. 



My expenses at Harvard have been as follows, — October, 1883, 
to July, 1884, $681 : earned by tutoring, $128. October, 1884, to 
July, 1885, $579: earned by tutoring, $256. October, 1885, to 
July, 1886, $525: earned by tutoring, $750. October, 1886, 
to May 1, 1887, $397: earned by tutoring, $210. Total for four 
years to May 1, 1887, $2,183; by tutoring, $1,344. I estimate 
my expenses for the rest of the year at $325, and my income 
at about $100. 



I fear m}' estimate of college expenses will not be very valuable, 
as I have alwaj^s boarded and slept at home. For three j'ears of 
m}' college course I have had a scholarship of $300, and have 
found this amply suflficient to pay my tuition, books, and outside 
expenses. 

M}^ total expenses for the four years have been $1,624. I have 
boarded at home two j^ears, part of a third, and nearly the whole 
of a fourth. My mother thinks my estimate of incidentals for the 



COLLEGE EXPENSES AT HARVARD. 15 

first two years a little too high. I believe a student boarding at home 
can easily go through college for $2,000, and live in very good 
style. I have not sold my books, but have most of them still. 



My expenses for the past four years have been as follows : 
Freshman, $550 ; Sophomore, $650 ; Junior, $625 ; Senior, $750. 
This represents the actual amounts which have come into my 
hands. I am able to give itemized accounts of them. My 
expenses cannot have been more than this, and probably have 
been on an average $15 less. I received from the college one 3^ear 
a scholarship of $150, and $50 from the Loan Fund ; another year, 
$350 scholarship, and $75 Loan Fund ; another still, $300 scholar- 
ship, and $50 Loan Fund. From tutoring, $250. The rest I 
obtained from extraneous sources. 



My annual expenses in Cambridge will be less than $550, not in- 
eluding a small spread which I shall give on Class Day. While I 
have not spent money recklessly, I have not pinched mj'self at all, 
and I have been fortunate in getting low-priced rooms. It is in 
this respect alone that Harvard is necessarily more expensive than 
man}' other American colleges. 



I can give only a general estimate. Three bod}' items I state 
nearly correctly, — tuition, $150 ; board at Memorial, $150 ; room- 
rent, $125. The latter has been unavoidabl}' large, because my 
luck in the lottery of room-drawing has been constant!}' bad, and 
rooms outside are expensive. Coal and wood, $25 ; good light, 
$5 ; washing, $25 ; books and stationery, $15 (had a good library 
to start with) ; clothing, about $30 (have bought only one full suit 
since I came to college, but brought a good deal with me) ; pleas- 
ure, $25 (societ}^ dues, sports, theatres, excursions, car-fares, and 
all incidentals). 

I think this rough estimate will conve}^ a nearl}' correct idea. 
The only item on which I have doubt is the last one. While I have 
not spent a large sum, still, incidentals creep up, without being 



16 COLLEGE EXPENSES AT HARVARD. 

noticed, in a most provoking manner. To state a maximum, as 
you suggest, probably $600 in round numbers would be fair. I 
ought to say that through my newspaper connections I have not 
only helped myself through college, but much of my pleasure, — 
games, sports, boat-races, as well as occasional theatres, — which 
would cost another man quite an important sum, have cost me 
nothing. I have not mentioned my expense for furniture, because 
1 have had no reason to buy any since the first outlay. In regard 
to my rooms, I have a pride in m}' economy of furnishing them. 
Without boasting, I think them as picturesque and as elegant as 
any in college, outside those upon which small fortunes have been 
spent in Beck. By making use of the contents of a country-house 
garret belonging to a great-aunt, and by judicious buying, the 
furnishing of the two rooms has cost me, all told, less than 



First year, $750 ; second year, $690 ; third year, $590 ; fourth 
3'ear, $625. Have been forced to economize since the middle of 
my second year, but have been more than comfortable on the 
above. 



I have not spent over $600 in any year, and I have been able to 
live very well indeed. I have boarded at Memorial, had a good 
room, had it furnished ver}^ comfortably, and have clothed myself 
well, although, of course, not extravagantl}'. I have not stinted 
myself on books, although I have not been able to buy all I wanted ; 
and it is here that I find mj'self inclined to spend more than I 
ought to. After these legitimate expenses, I have had a little left 
for what might perhaps be called luxuries. 

I should admit that the temptations to spend money are greater 
here than at some of our country colleges. I can see how I might 
spend a good deal more, without doing it foolishly ; and I can also 
see how one of a more robust constitution than mj'self would get 
along on much less money, perhaps on $200 or $250 less, if he 
were wiUing to scrimp on books, room, board, and clothes. In my 
opinion, from what I have seen and know of other colleges, a man 
can get along as cheaply here as in any of them ; and the possibili- 
ties of getting aid b}' means of scholarships are very much greater 
here. 



COLLEGE EXPENSES At HARVARD. 17 

To meet this $2,860, of which I have thus given you an account 
by months, I have earned about $500 in college during my Fresh- 
man and Sophomore years, and something over $1,500 during my 
vacations, — chiefl}' the last two. The remaining $860 I received 
from my folks and from other sources ; $200 I borrowed when 
I entered, — to be paid next September. As I intend to work 
next summer, I have no doubt I can easil}^ meet this. I have 
also earned all my summer expenses, — $450. 

I have not received a dollar as a tutor or as a holder of a scholar- 
ship. It is evident, then, that there are other and more remunera- 
tive ways of earning money than these during a man's college 
course. 



I have spent about $600 per year. I could easily have done 
with $500 had I so desired. 



My expenses have been about $600 per year. They will proba- 
bly be $800 this year. I have been very economical, and from my 
own experience think it would be difficult for a student to get along 
with very much less. 



For the college portion of each of my four years my expenses 
have averaged $750. Allow me to say that this amount is much 
larger than is " needed," in my opinion, to go through Harvard. 



I have bad but $700 per college year as an allowance, with per- 
haps $50 as extras. It seems a small sum, but I have not felt 
pinched for money in getting any of the necessities of a comfort- 
able life here. $750 is the outside limit of my expenditure. 



As it was a matter of great doubt whether I could afford to go 
to college or not, I am in a position peculiarly fitted to recognize 
the value of the work you are doing. It is generally supposed that 
it costs far more to live here than it actually does. Indeed, I 



18 COLLEGE EXPENSES AT HARVARD. 

think extravagance is the exception. If I can be of assistance 
in dispelling this erroneous notion that only the very rich can go 
to college, do not hesitate to call on me farther. 

Below are as accurate statements of my expenses as I can give 
[itemized accounts, averaging $702 a year]. In conclusion, I 
would say that I have always had all I wanted, — have lived and 
dressed well. I am confident that the amount spent each year 
could be brought down to $600 easily. 



Expenses for four years' course at Harvard College [given by 
single years and by average. Last as follows] : — 

Tuition $150.00 

Laboratories 7.69 

Books and stationery . . 25.70 

Clothing 87.20 

Boom 218.75 

Furniture (not including pieces from home) . 30.56 

Board at Memorial 146.63 

Fuel and light 33.88 

Societies and subscriptions 41.69 

Janitor 31.88 

Sundries 122.88 

Total $896.86 



My theatre-tickets have cost, — Freshman, $16.00, Sophomore, 
$26.00 ; Junior, $16.75 ; Senior, $1.50. These I cannot forbear to 
mention separately, because I think thej^ show certain things about 
college recreations quite general among the students at large. Dur- 
ing Freshman 3^ear the theatre is usually very attractive, and its 
attraction is badl}' lessened in the year that follows. As a matter 
of fact, my theatre-expenses as a Sophomore were much greater 
than as a Freshman ; but this I think was almost wholly due to the 
peculiar fascination exerted by Irving and Terry's performances of 
Shakespeare's pla3's. 



$700 will be my net outlay. This includes all expenditures, 
clothing and railroad fare to New York several times a year. I 
have belonged to no societies, and had no expensive habits. Never 



COLLEGE EXPENSES AT HARVARD. 19 

smoke, etc. I therefore think this an nnder-estimate of the average 
rational expenditure, which I should place at $1,000 a year. 



Total expenditure for entire year averages about $1,200, of which 
$100 are travelling expenses, and another $100 is spent during the 
long vacation in summer. This leaves $1,000 for the college year, 
which I find very sufficient. Since entering Harvard I have taken 
many laboratory courses, the fees of which have of course some- 
what increased my term-bills. Exclusive of required text-books, 
I have added about $200 worth of books to my library during the 
last three years. My social expenses, as nearl}^ as I can estimate 
them, are about $100 annually, or at least do not exceed $125. 



I don't think I could have gone through college and have got 
along with a sum material^ smaller than that which I have had 
[$1,000 a year]. In view of the small sum on which some men go 
through college, it may seem ridiculous for me to saj this ; but I do 
not consider that I have been extravagant, though in some cases I 
think I might have spent more judiciousty. 



During my four j-ears in college I have had an allowance of 
$1,000 a year. Up to this j^ear I have been just able to keep 
within it. Mj' expenses in this, my last 3'ear, are heavier, but to 
what amount I cannot yet calculate. On this allowance I have felt 
pinched. The same sum, with my clothes paid for, I should have 
deemed very liberal. 



I came to college with the idea that I could live on a thousand a 
year ; but I find that m}^ total expenses have averaged fully $1,580 
each 3^ear, and some years more. $6,000 will not overestimate the 
cost of m}^ college course. 



20 COLLEGE EXPENSES AT HARVARD. 

$1,100 a year. I came here with no allowance, but could use 
what I thought proper. My father expected me to use about $700 
a year. I have had practically no amusements while in college. 
As unnecessary expenses I might put down four trips to Illinois, 
and three visits to New York ; altogether, this will make $275. I 
might have spent less on clothes than about $160 a year, and than 
$125 for my room ; but not if I wanted to do as others do. I have 
built fires and carried water myself. The last two 3'ears I have 
ordered a good many ^' extras " at Memorial, — about $40 a j^ear. 
I have not gone out at all. This last year I have spent $30 on a 
society I never attend, and an equal amount on athletics in which 
I take no interest. Other sports have cost me $150. 

I should put the necessary college expenses as follows : If one 
wants to study onl}", $600 ; if one wants the education which the 
societ}^ of others gives, $1,500, — provided you have no local 
connections. 



Freshman year, $980; Sophomore, $1,280; Junior, $1,300; 
Senior, $1,500. 

During my Freshman j^ear my expenses were very much less 
than they have been during the last three years. This was partly 
due to the fact that I boarded at Memorial Hall, partly because 
I joined no societies, and partly because I went into athletics. 
This last cause is more important than it would at first appear. 
When a man is in training, he cannot go to parties, nor to the 
theatre ; he cannot travel round to see the various foot-ball and 
base-ball games. Many things for which he usually spends money 
are denied him. The fact that so much of his time is taken up, 
gives him less time to spend money. Perhaps you ma}^ think that 
the things he gives up do not strictly come under the head of a 
college education ; but nevertheless they form an important part of 
the expenses of the majority of men here. 

I hope I have not answered your question too much at length, 
but I happen to know my different expenses quite accuratelj^ 
There is probably no place where it is so easy to make your 
expenses meet j-our means as it is in Cambridge. A man can 
easily make his expenses as large or as small as he pleases. 



COLLEGE EXPENSES AT HARVARD. 21 

I have spent $1,200 in my Freshman year; $1,500 in my 
Sophomore ; $1,700 in my Junior ; and $2,700 in my Senior. I do 
not think it necessary to spend so much money as this in order to 
go through Harvard College. Subscriptions and the expenses in- 
curred by joining college societies must be regulated according to 
one's own ideas, as well as money spent for outside enjoyment. If 
a man leads the life of a hermit, he can go through college on less 
than $700 ; but I should say that from $1,200 to $1,500 was a very 
fair allowance for a man to enjoy himself quite thoroughly on. 



I have spent $1,200 a year; and I hardly need add that much 
of it has gone unnecessarily, and that were I to pass through these 
years again, I could easily and satisfactorily get on with much 
less. 



Average per year, $1,480. As 3^ou see, my expenses have been 
relatively large. The increase in the Sophomore year is chiefly 
due to the fact that I then kept a saddle-horse in Cambridge. Be- 
sides ordinary expenses, I have bought a good many books, and 
have had several large pieces of furniture made, at a considerable 
cost. I have also squandered a good deal of money in amateur 
photography. Lastly, I have taken several long railway trips 
during the Christmas and Easter vacations. 



My college years have cost me about $6,500, — more than I need 
have spent for mere college education, of course, and yet a liberal 
allowance for a comfortable and pleasant four years. I believe in 
a. good room above all things, even if expensive. And yet I have 
by no means led a fast life here, only had a comfortable, eas}^, and 
good time. $6,000 is enough for any fellow. 



Expenses of college course : Freshman year, $2,025 ; Sopho- 
more, $2,213 ; Junior, $2,000 ; Senior, $1,950. This represents 
the expense of a man who has lived liberally, and spent all the 
money he cared to. 



22 



COLLEGE EXPENSES AT HARYARD. 



I send the enclosed estimates, which are necessarily more or less 
incomplete, but which give a very good idea of the increase in ex- 
penditure during the four years, through the generosity of an almost 
too liberal father. 





Freshman. 


Sophomore. 


Junior. 


Senior. 


Room . . . 
Table .... 








$200 

280 


$250 
320 


$250 
320 


$250 
340 


Janitor .... 








50 


50 


50 


50 


Washing . . . 
Tuition. . . . 








50 
150 


50 
150 


50 
150 


50 
150 


Furniture . . . 








60 


150 


25 


5 


Subscriptions 
Text-books . . 








100 
30 


75 
20 


150 
40 


40 
75 


Clothing . ■ . . 
Fuel. .... 








45 
30 


150 
45 


200 
45 


200 
45 


Societies . , . 








50 


250 


267 


500 


Tutoring . . 
Sundries . . , 
Livery .... 
Photographs . 








40 

25(?) 

6 
10 


50 
60(?) 
10 
40 


60 

50C?) 

20 

20 


50 
100(?) 
40 
75 


Totals . . . 


• 






$1126 


$1670 


$1697 


$1970 



I am ver}^ willing, even glad, to aid you in a small way by telling 
you how much I have spent here at college, — much, I fear, foolishly 
and unnecessarily. I feel sure that had I been less extravagant, 
I could easily have saved from $1,500 to $2,000 on my course; 
for during the last two years I have spent far less mone}^ and en- 
joyed myself more, than during the first two. Although I have 
not the exact figures at hand, I know I have not spent less than 
$1,500 a year on the average. However, I think I could do it all 
over again upon an allowance of $1,000 per year, and have as good 
a time and learn more than at present. My allowance now is about 
$1,500 a year ; but I am afraid I am apt to exceed that amount. 



Dear Sir, — ■ I regret to say my college course will have cost 
me, in round figures, $9,000. 



uSu^aay ^^ congress 




029 934 673 






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